Monthly Archives: September 2011

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Join KLRU and the Austin Public Library for free Community Cinema screenings on the first Tuesday of the month at the Windsor Park Branch Library (5833 Westminster Dr,). Screenings will start at 7 p.m. with a discussion to follow each of the films. The next screening will be Deaf Jam on October 4.

Deaf Jam
Aneta Brodski, a deaf teen living in New York City, discovers the power of American Sign Language poetry. As she prepares to be one of the first deaf poets to compete in a spoken-word slam, her journey leads to an unexpected collaboration.

KLRU-TV, Austin PBS, has named new officers for its Board of Directors, along with 11 new Board members.

Austin Attorney Beryl P. Crowley has been elected KLRU Board Chair, replacing Trisa Thompson, Vice President, Corporate Social Responsibility at Dell Inc. Ms. Thompson remains on the KLRU Board and assumes leadership of the station’s Board of Trustees Emeritus. Also elected were Vice Chair Catherine Robb, of counsel with Sedgewick LLP, Attorneys at Law, and Secretary Margie Kintz, community volunteer and formerly head of the Intel Foundation.

Laura Beuerlein, Executive Vice President of Marketing, Heritage Title

Ken Cho, Co-founder and Chief Straetgy Officer, Spredfast

Susie Dudley, Amelia Bullock Realtors

Christine Mattsson, President, The Mattsson-McHale Foundation

Rodney Gibbs, Founder and CEO, Ricochet Labs

Tom Green, actor, investor, and philanthropist

Michael D. Marin, Partner, Boulette and Golder, L.L.P.

Bettye Nowlin, philanthropist and community volunteer

Hector de Jesus Ruiz, CEO of Bull Ventures LLC and former CEO of AMD

Bobbi Topfer, philanthropist and development professional

About KLRU:
KLRU-TV, Austin PBS, reflects, celebrates and inspires Central Texas through creative excellence, community engagement and lifelong learning. In addition to providing locally produced and quality national television programming, KLRU is also a non-profit organization helping to build a stronger community through educational workshops, community engagement projects and public events. Known as the producing station of the longest-running live music television show AUSTIN CITY LIMITS, KLRU has also worked on several other national productions including the documentaries CITIZEN ARCHITECT and LAST BEST HOPE. Get more information about KLRU at klru.org

Discover the personal history and unique art of Dia de los Muertos through the stories of San Antonio artists who capture this rich cultural heritage. The Art of Dia de las Muertos airs 9/29 at 7:30 pm, 10/02 at 1:30 pm, 10/27 at 7:30 pm and 10/30 at 1:30 pm. To understand our present, Arts In Context explores the fabric of our past. Although the philosophy behind Dia de los Muertos (Day of the Dead) began in the Mexican culture, now it crosses all cultures as a ceremony to remember and value the ones who led us to where we are today.

KLRU was proud to sponsor the CASA Superhero Run on September 25th, 2011, an annual event that raises money to help ensure that someday every child in Travis County who needs their own superhero will have one. Take a look at the pictures from the event.

Thank you to everyone who attended the September 8th Spark at The Moody event featuring Dr. George Friedman. Here’s a video wrap-up of the evening.

The next event takes place Oct. 19 and focuses on health care. Tickets
are for sale online at klru.org/spark

What Are The Costs?: Increasing the Value of Healthcare
As Americans continue to grapple with rising healthcare costs,
professionals around the nation are exploring the most effective and
efficient models of providing high quality healthcare at a lower cost
to all. Dr. J. James Rohack, MD, Director of the Scott & White Center
for Healthcare Policy, and Dr. William Sage, Provost at UT School of
Law, discuss the emerging healthcare models in Texas and the nation.

PBS KIDS has added a new app to its successful suite of educational apps for iPhone and iPod touch. Sid’s Science Fair, which is now available on the App Store, includes three mini-games that build science and math skills for children ages 3 to 6.

Starting today, you can watch the first episode of Ken Burns new film series Prohibition on the free PBS App for iPad and iPhone before the entire series airs nationally on PBS, Sunday-Tuesday, October 2-4.

Set in the era of the bathtub gin, bootleggers and speakeasies, Prohibition tells the true story of the rise, rule and fall of the 18th Amendment to the US Constitution. It was called the “Noble Experiment,” but it was in fact one of America’s most notorious civic failures, an object lesson in the challenge of legislating human behavior.

Featuring high-speed footage of hummingbirds in the wild and high-tech presentations of their remarkable abilities, Nature Hummingbirds helps us to understand the world of hummingbirds as we never have before 7 p.m. Sunday and 7 p.m. Wednesday.

Frontline at 8 p.m. Tuesday tells the inside stories of Sharif El-Gamal, a real estate developer behind the most controversial building in America, a mostly derelict property in lower Manhattan made infamous overnight as the Ground Zero Mosque.

Every spring, 130 million Chinese migrant workers journey to their
home villages for the Chinese New Year in the world’s largest human
migration. POV: Last Train Home paints a colorful, emotional portrait
of China’s rush to economic development 9 p.m. Tuesday.

The massive earthquake that hit Japan generated a fearsome tsunami,
annihilating coastal villages and towns in a matter of minutes. Nova
Surviving The Tsunami at 9 p.m. Wednesday includes never-before-seen
stories captured on video and retold after-the-fact by survivors.

Evan Smith hats with Calvin Trillin, writer for The New Yorker, The
Nation, and Time, on Overheard with Evan Smith at 7 p.m. Thursday.

Discover the personal history and unique art of Dia de los Muertos
through the stories of San Antonio artists who capture this rich
cultural heritage on Arts in Context at 7:30 p.m. Thrusday To
understand our present, Arts In Context explores the fabric of our
past. Although the philosophy behind Dia de los Muertos (Day of the
Dead) began in the Mexican culture, now it crosses all cultures as a
ceremony to remember and value the ones who led us to where we are
today. .

Chet travels to Fredericksburg, Texas; the land of German food,
wineries, boutique shopping, and rock climbing on The Daytripper at
8:30 p.m. Thursday.

Live From The Artists Den: Daniel Merriweather, A Fine Frenzy, and
Lisa Hannigan features three emerging artists performing in three
extraordinary locations 9 p.m. Thursday.

An American favorite from his role in the hit TV series House, British
actor Hugh Laurie showcases his musical side in an atmospheric special
filmed on location in New Orleans on Great Performances: Let Them
Talk: A Celebration of New 8 p.m. Friday.

Contemporary folk rock takes the stage on Austin City Limits at 7 p.m.
Saturday with Mumford & Sons and Flogging Molly. Mumford & Sons
perform cuts from their hit album Sigh No More, as well as new tunes.
Flogging Molly hits highlights from their career.

Independent Television Service (ITVS) recently awarded KLRU a $750 Women & Girls Lead grant to fund costs associated with a Community Cinema screening in early September at Windsor Park Branch Library.

Women and Girls Lead is a multiyear public media initiative to leverage independent documentary film and public service engagement to amplify the voices of women and girl leaders, expand understanding of gender equity, and engage a network of citizens and organizations to tune in and get involved.

Community Cinema brings communities together through independent film by providing resources and opportunities for education, engagement, and action — transforming film and public broadcasting into powerful resources for individuals, communities and organizations. Community Cinema presents a different documentary the first Tuesday of the month at a public library.

Peace Unveiled is the film that took center stage on September 6th. It told the story of three women who organized in late 2009 when ground was being laid for peace talks with the Taliban. In order to protect women’s interests, they maneuvered against formidable odds to have their voices heard in a peace jirga and high peace council.

Peggy Kelsey of The Afghan Women’s Project spoke at the event about her personal visits to Afghanistan. She had interviewed a few of the women in the film for her book. Gaea Logan, a psychologist who started the Dakur project and who specializes in neurology behind psychological states, also spoke. She discussed the psychological strength it took the women to stand up and demand to be heard in front of the war lords who were on the peace panel. Audience discussion primarily focused on the topic of hope for the future of Afghanistan, and expressed gratitude for the opportunity to learn more about the issues presented in the screening.

Nature: Hummingbirds: Magic In The Air 7 pm
Hummingbirds represent one of nature’s most interesting paradoxes — they are the tiniest of birds, yet they qualify as some of the toughest and most energetic creatures on the planet. New knowledge gained from scientists currently making great breakthroughs in hummingbird biology makes this a perfect time to focus on these shimmering, flashing jewels of the natural world. Stunningly beautiful high-definition, high speed footage of hummingbirds in the wild combined with high-tech presentations of their remarkable abilities help us to understand the world of hummingbirds as we never have before.

NOVA: Japan’s Killer Quake 8 pm
In its worst crisis since World War II, Japan faces disaster on an epic scale: a rising death toll in the tens of thousands, massive destruction of homes and businesses, shortages of water and power, and the specter of nuclear reactor meltdowns. The facts and figures are astonishing. The March 11th earthquake was the world’s fourth largest earthquake since record keeping began in 1900 and the worst ever to shake Japan. The seismic shock wave released over 4,000 times the energy of the largest nuclear test ever conducted; it shifted the earth’s axis by 6 inches and shortened the day by a few millionths of a second. The tsunami slammed Japan’s coast with 30 feet-high waves that traveled 6 miles inland, obliterating entire towns in a matter of minutes. JAPAN’S KILLER QUAKE combines authoritative on-the-spot reporting, personal stories of tragedy and survival, compelling eyewitness videos, explanatory graphics and exclusive helicopter footage for a unique look at the science behind the catastrophe.

Surviving The Tsunami: A NOVA Special Presentation 9 pm
The earthquake that hit the northern coast of Japan on March 11, 2011 was recorded at magnitude 9.0 the worst ever to strike Japan. It generated an unprecedented tsunami, obliterating coastal villages and towns in a matter of minutes. Amazingly, amateur and professional photographers captured it all on video, including remarkable tales of human survival, as ordinary citizens became heroes in a drama they never could have imagined. As the waves rush in, a daughter struggles to help her elderly mother ascend their rooftop to safety; a man climbs onto an overpass just as the wave overtakes his car. These never-before-seen stories are captured in video and retold after-the-fact by the survivors who reveal what they were thinking as they made their life-saving decisions. Their stories provide lessons in survival and how we should all act in the face of life threatening disasters.